Is smaller better when it comes to campaign donations?

Ted Cruz has made a big deal of his small donors as he battles Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, saying recently that he has received more than 37,000 donations under $100.

We can’t doublecheck the number because candidates don’t have to itemize small donations, and Cruz’s campaign hasn’t released a list of donors.

But his big unitemized-contribution total plays into Cruz’s narrative that his campaign is fueled by the grass roots.

Dewhurst’s camp hasn’t previously released its own number of smallish donors, but spokesman Matt Hirsch said Thursday it has received nearly 4,000 donations under $250 — combating Cruz assertions, based on an earlier report, that he’d received only 11 small donations.

Cruz’s campaign said it has received more than 48,000 contributions under $250.